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Connecticut Study Verifies the Safety of Synthetic Turf

ATLANTA, GA – On July 30, the
Connecticut Department of Public Health (CDPH) announced that a new study of
the risks to children and adults playing on synthetic turf fields containing
crumb rubber infill shows "no elevated health risks.” The study further
validates the conclusions and recent studies of the U. S. Consumer Product
Safety Commission (CPSC), U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and other
governmental agencies, including the New York State Department of Environmental
Conservation and Department of Health, the New York City Department of Health,
and the California EPA.

"This study presents good news regarding the safety of
outdoor artificial turf fields,” stated Department of Public Health
Commissioner Dr. J. Robert Galvin. "While the findings indoors were below the
health risk targets, the elevated contaminant levels suggest a need to
ventilate these fields so they can be brought to the level of safety outdoors.
What we've learned from this study in Connecticut will provide valuable
guidance to municipalities, schools and others who operate or are considering
installing artificial playing fields.”

Four state agencies – the University of Connecticut Health
Center, the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station, the Department of
Public Health and the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) –
collaborated on the study. Nine scientists from the Connecticut Academy of
Science and Engineering (CASE) were asked to review the study and issue its own
report.

Among the study‟s major findings:

"Outdoor and indoor artificial turf fields are not
associated with elevated health risks from the inhalation of volatile or
particle bound chemicals.”

The readings at the indoor field (in a building with a
broken exhaust system) showed higher levels of chemical emissions, but, as
noted above, below levels of concern. The DEP recommends ventilation of indoor
fields.

The Department of Environmental Protection evaluated the
environmental risk associated with storm water runoff from the artificial turf
fields tested in the air study. Of eight storm water samples collected, three
samples contained zinc concentrations that exhibited acute toxicity to two
aquatic organisms. They concluded there is no risk to drinking water from this
runoff, but a potential risk exists for surface waters and aquatic organisms.
The DEP also suggests that use of storm water treatment measures may reduce the
concentrations of zinc in the storm water runoff from artificial turf fields to
levels below the acute aquatic toxicity criteria. [Note: Using different test
methods, the EPA and NY State Department of Environmental Conservation
determined that zinc levels were well below levels of concern, even to aquatic
life.]

It is noteworthy that CASE – the expert panel of nine
scientists that reviewed the study and report of findings – was exceedingly
critical in its report of the so-called „headline‟ conclusion of the
Connecticut study: "Their „headline‟ conclusion…‟Results indicate cancer risks
slightly above de minimus levels for all scenarios evaluated…” fails to
indicate that such risks are highly improbable, reflecting a series of
systematic overestimates of exposure and risk, and including a contaminant that
is almost certainly not actually off-gassing from the crumb rubber.”

"In over 40 years of EPA oversight and OSHA regulated
manufacturing, there has never been an instance of illness attributed to
synthetic turf. This study and numerous others validate the long-term human
health and environmental safety of synthetic turf systems,” said Rick Doyle,
president of the Synthetic Turf Council. "Consider too synthetic turf‟s environmental
benefits -- in 2009, 5,200 synthetic turf sports fields in the U.S. saved over
four billion gallons of water, and eliminated the use of millions of pounds of
toxic pesticides & fertilizers.”

Based in
Atlanta, the Synthetic Turf Council was founded in 2003 to promote the industry
and to assist buyers and end users with the selection, use and maintenance of
synthetic turf systems in sports field, golf, municipal parks, airports,
landscape and residential applications. The organization is also a resource for
current, credible, and independent research on the safety and environmental
impact of synthetic turf. Membership includes builders, landscape architects,
testing labs, maintenance providers, manufacturers, suppliers, installation
contractors, infill material suppliers and other specialty service companies.
For more information, visit www.syntheticturfcouncil.org.